Ayton
- Ranger team
- Dabu Jajikal Rangers
- Host organisation
- Dabu Jajikal Aboriginal Corporation
The Dabu Jajikal rangers work from their Ayton base to care for sea, reef, and coastal country around the Bloomfield River and Balabay (Weary Bay) extending to the outer reef, within their Traditional Use of Marine Resources Agreement (TUMRA) area.
Their country includes the Wet Tropics and Great Barrier Reef world heritage areas.
Their priorities include:
- cultural heritage site protection, including recording of scar trees, middens, trails and burial sites, removal of invasive species, management of visitor access and coastal protection measures
- the documentation and transmission of traditional ecological knowledge, including recording of stories relating to sea and reef country and heritage sites, producing cultural and language videos, and creating information products for sharing with the broader community
- climate change adaptation measures including coastal erosion management and vegetation rehabilitation, beach access management and track closures, interpretive signage, monitoring of visitor compliance, and monitoring of indicator species
- marine conservation, including monitoring of totemic species, turtle and dugong, and reef sites, and compliance activities through the TUMRA program, reef restoration and Crown of Thorns starfish management
- water quality monitoring at the Bloomfield River and other sites
- fire management for Balabay (Weary Bay) including planning and undertaking cultural burns with key partners.